Tennessee’s free real estate licensing program for qualifying high school seniors opens applications on April 1, 2026.

The program offers Tennessee high school seniors free education, preparing them to take the pre-licensing exam and potentially become licensed real estate agents in Tennessee. The program can accept about 100 seniors, and the course is about 90 hours of total coursework.

“As we enter this program’s third year, I remind Tennessee’s eager, hard-working high school seniors who want to participate in this program to always aim high, stay focused on their goals, and remember that through hard work they can meet the standards needed to become a licensed real-estate agent,” said TREC Executive Director Denise Beard Baker. “This program is a great way for students to get a jump start on their career, earn money, and gain valuable career experience while also completing their high school coursework.”

After completing the base education, program participants then meet the Commission requirements in order to obtain their license.

Students must complete the 60-hour Tennessee Affiliate Broker pre-licensing course as well as the 30-hour Tennessee New Affiliate course through TDCI’s licensing education partners at Kaplan Real Estate Education.

Once students have enrolled in the program, they have 100 days (even after high school graduation) to complete the program.

Upon completion of the courses, students must successfully complete state and national real estate exams.

The program is limited to approximately 100 high school seniors. In the event that selected students do not complete the program, TREC will offer the vacant spots to individuals on the waiting list, in the order in which their applications were received.

While the program is available to all Tennessee graduating high school seniors, the program has a dedicated focus on Tennessee’s economically distressed counties.

Starting April 1, you can click on the following link to apply:

https://www.tn.gov/commerce/regboards/trec/license/highschool/apply.html